Blower



May 17, 1932. F. H. c. COPPUS BLOWER Original Filed Sept. 14, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet fnye/nor flaw f1. C Cop 0w F "7 Hflfarnga May 17, 1932. F. H. c. coPPus BLOWER 2 Sheets-Sheet Original Filed Sept. 14 1925 [we/va or fizz/75 H C Cop 005 Patented May 17, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FRANS H. C. CORPUS, OF \VOECESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO ANNA M. C. WEOHSBERG, VERA L. WOOD, AND Flt-ANS H. C. OOPPUS, TRUSTEES, ALL OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS BLOWER Original application filed September 14, 1925, Serial No. 56,113. Divided and this application filed March This is a division of my application for patent on a system of drafting locomotives in roundhouses, Serial No. 56,113, filed September 14, 1925.

This invention relates to a blower or exhauster especially adapted for the drafting of locomotives in roundhouses during the firing up period, but it is capable of general use, particularly certain parts of it.

The principal objects of the invention are to provide a portable blower for drafting locomotives in the diiferent stalls of a roundhouse or any other place where locomotives may be drafted such as repair sheds. rail road yards, sidings, etc. adapted to be attached to or placed on the stack of a locomotive and to discharge the gases of combustion into the smoke jack or uptake through the roof of the roundhouse or into a stack or chimney or directly into open atmosphere; to provide a blower driven by a motor to handle the gases of combustion and to provide means for cooling the motor during its operation; to provide the blower with a suitable support to place it on the stack of the locomotive regardless of the position of the locomotive in relation to the smoke jack or gas uptake; to provide means for registering the blower with the bottom of the smoke jack regardless of the tilting of the locomotives; to provide means to protect the motor against the gases of combustion and also against any discharge by the steam of the locomotive steam jet blower if this should be turned on while the blower is on the stack: to provide means for fitting the blower on different sizes and heights of locomotive stacks; and to provide means whereby the blower can be employed fordrafting locomotives in roundhouses or other locomotive drafting plants, for furnishing induced draft for boilers, for handling hot gases in re-circulating systems and for other industrial purposes.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a preferred form of the blower;

Serial No. 180,018.

Figs. 2 and 3 are sectional and end views of another form; and

Fig. a is an enlarged sectional view on the line 44 of Fig. 2.

This blower is capable of general use but, of course, it is particularly designed for use with the invention claimed in my above identified original application. It is particularly adapted, in all the forms shown, for being moved around in a roundhouse and attached to, or placed on, the stacks of locomotives therein. It will be understood that means is provided by which it can be suspended from overhead and adjusted to the locomotives under the smoke jacks of the roundhouse even when a locomotive is a little out of position side-ways or tilted or the like. Most of the other features of the blower are capable of use for any purpose whatever where there is soot and smoke or a high degree of heat and the motor is protected accordingly by providing means for circulation of air past the mo tor and the bearings to keep them cool, as will appear.

I provide a small motor driven blower which takes care of one locomotive at a time, but may be used in any one stall of the roundhouse. A number of such blowers may be used side by side or widely scattered over the roundhouse thereby giving the utmost flexibility of operation, see Fig. 3.

The blower 50 is carried by trunnions 52 so as to be portable. Its casing is formed in two pieces, to the upper of which is bolted aspider 81, the hub 82 of which forms the upper end cap of the motor, the upper bearing housing 16 being connected with the hub 82 by means of radial arms 17 to form therewith an annular air chamber 18. This end cap has cored slots 88 and an end shield 84 which forms with the hub 82 a continuation of the cored slots 83. Leading to the cored slots 83 is an annular air chamber 85 formed by a second casing constituting the motor housing 86 and motor cover 87 enclosing the entire motor. To this air chamber 85 lead one or more radial pipes 88 from the outside of the lower part of the blower casing 50 which is bolted to the upper part by four bolts 90. The air therefore, passing through the tubes 88, enters the annular air chamber 85, then passes through annular slots 83 into the passage between the housing 82 and the shield 84. The air is drawn through this passageway by the suction created by the fan 91. The air, however, is also drawn through an annular air chamber 11 formed by the motor housing 86 and the stator 12 of the motor and again through the space between the stator 12 and the rotor 13 by the action of fan 91, assisted by a smaller fan 92 on the same vertical shaft 103 which discharges the air into the hollow hub of the fan 91 and out through hole 93, thereby cooling the inside of the hub so that very little or no heat is transmitted to the shaft by the fan blades. Air chamber 11 and the space between the stator and the rotor receive cooling air from air chamber 85 through one or more ports 14 in the lower end cap and bearing housing 15 of the motor, and communicates with air chamber 18. A throw ring 94 prevents any dirt from falling down through the holes 93 or any rain or water of condensation from entering similarly. If any steam should be discharged through the stack it cannot reach the motor because of the provisions just described.

This blower has two ball bearings 101, the oiling of which is accomplished as follows: Oil is poured into a receptacle 95 until it overflows through a hole having a plug 96 which is then secured in place. A pipe 97 leads from the receptacle to the oil chamber 102 of the motor and this oil chamber will be filled approximately to the top of the lower ball bearing. A screw nut 98, rotating with the shaft 103, pumps the oil upward through a hole 104 through the center of the shaft, putting the oil in this hole under pressure. Above each ball bearing is an outlet 105 from this hole and the oil flowing through the lower outlet will pass through the ball bearing and immediately into the oil reservoir, while the oil passing through the upper hole flows through the ball bearing into a chamber 99 then out through a pipe 100 back to receptacle 95. The fiow of oil will continue as long as the motor is in operation. The pipe 97 passes through one of the air inlets 88 and therefore is kept cool, and the pipe 100 passes through another pipe 106 which communicates with the air passage 83 for the same purpose. A relief over-flow 107 is provided for the upper bearing.

With this construction the portable blower is easily fitted to the stack of the locomotive even if the stack is not centrally located under the jack or if it is tilted to one side. The blower is provided with means for pro tecting the motor against the heat of the gases of combustion and steam from the steam jet blower if that is turned on. Autcmatic means is provided for lubricating the bearings of the blower and means for cooling the motor as it operates. This is a material improvement over the blower s s tems that have been installed heretofore 0- cause the blower is portable and no flexible or telescoping pipes have to be used in connection with it that may be left open, thus wasting power.

Figs. 2, 3 and 4 show the blower with a screw hoist. The blower is suspended from the screw rod 20, fulcrumed at 21 so that it can swing slightly out of its normal position in order to set squarely on the locomotive stack if the locomotive should be tipped to one side.

The blower itself consists of a housing 30 having an intake elbow 31 provided with a flared inlet 32. To the upper part of the blower housing is bolted a fan casing 33 with a hub 34 containing a bearing bushing 35 through which passes the shaft 36. The bushing 35 is provided with prongs or ribs on the outside so that air passages 37 are formed between the hub 34 and the bushing. The hub 34 is fastened to the casing 33 by means of ribs 34 and between these ribs are gaps 34" which are closed by covers and thus constitute air passages. The inlet to the air pas- 37 is closed by a pipe 40 and the inlet to the air passages 34 is closed by a fiat plate 41 and a pipe 42. This forms an air passage between the pipes 40 and 42 which communicates with the atmosphere outside of the blower. An air passage is also formed between the pipe 40 and the shaft 36 communi eating with the passages 37 and opening up to the motor casing. By the action of the fan 38 air is drawn from the outside between the pipes 40 and 42 and also through the motor and around the shaft. At the extreme end of the shaft is the fan 38 discharging the gases into the blower outlet 39.

On the other end of the housing 30 is bolted the motor frame consisting of a cap 43, shell 44, and cap 45, the latter containing the other bearing of the blower. Thus the motor is located out of the path of the heated gases of combustion. The lubrication of thi:v bearing is furnished by an ordinary grease cup screwed into the cover 48 and the grease pipe for the upper bearing is located inside of a sleeve which is screwed into the hub 34 so that there is an air passage between this pipe and the grease pipe for keeping the grease cool. A guard 46 protects the motor.

The casing 30 is provided with two doors 47, one on each side, which, when the blower is not in operation, hang open as indicated, but when the blower is started up a suction is created inside of the blower housing, which automatically closes these doors. 7 These doors are for the purpose of letting cold air into the blower housing if the blower should b allowed to remain on a stack not in operation, thereby reducing the temperature of the gases and consequently the heat to which the bearing 35 is subjected, or, of letting the gases issuing from the stack escape to the atmosphere. It is obvious that if for any reason the gases issuing from the stack cannot escape through the exhauster, they will escape through the open doors 4.7. The outlets with which the doors 47 are associated may be located anywhere as long as the doors remain under the influence of the fan and are closed by the suction created thereby.

Although I have illustrated and described two forms of the invention, I am aware of the fact that other modifications can be made therein by any person skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims. Therefore I do not wish to be limited in these respects but what I do claim is 1. In a blower of the class described, the combination of a casing for conveying the hot gases, a fan within the casing having a hollow hub, a shaft to drive the fan, a second casing around the shaft, and means for passing air through said second casing and through the fan hub for cooling the latter.

2. In a blower of the class described, the combination of a casing for conveying the hot gases, a fan within the casing having a hollow hub, a shaft to drive the fan, a second casing around the shaft, and means for passing air through said second casing and through the fan hub to prevent the fan from transmitting heat to the shaft.

3. In a blower of the class described, the combination of a casing for conveying the hot gases, a fan within the casing having a hollow hub, a shaft to drive the fan, a second casing around the shaft, and means operative by the shaft for passing air through said second casing and through the fan'hub for cooling the latter.

4. In a blower of the class described, the combination of a casing for conveying the hot gases, a fan within the casing having a hollow hub, a shaft to drive the fan, a second casing around the shaft, and means operative by the shaft for passing air through said second casing and through the fan hub to prevent the fan from transmitting heat to the shaft.

5. In a blower of the class described, the combination of a casing for conveying the hot gases, a fan within the casing having a hollow hub, a shaft to drive the fan, a second casing around the shaft made up of a plurality of sections, and means for passing air through said second casing and through the fan hub for cooling the latter.

6. In a blower of the class described, the combination of a casing for conveying the hot gases, a fan within the casing having a hollow hub, a shaft to drive the fan, a second casing around the shaft consisting of a plurality of sections, and means operative by the shaft for passing air through said second casing and through the fan hub for cooling the latter.

7 In a blower of the class described, the combination of a casing for conveying the hot gases, a fan. within the casing having a hollow hub, means for driving the fan, a second casing around said means through which and also through said hollow hub, air is drawn by the fan and an auxiliary fan for cooling said means and said hollow hub.

8. In a blower for the purpose described, the combination with a casing, of a shaft through the casing, bearings on said shaft near the top and bottom, a fan on the top of the shaft at the outlet of the casing having a hollow hub, a smaller fan fixed on said shaft registering with the open bottom of the hollow hub to force air therethrough and cool the inside of the hub, and a motor on the shaft for operating it.

9. In a blower of the class described, the combination of a casing having an opening connecting it to the atmosphere, and a door for the opening adapted to close automatically when the blower is put in operation and open automatically when the blower is stopped.

10. In a blower of the class described, the combination of a casing having an opening connecting it to the atmosphere, and a door for the opening adapted to close by the draft through the casing when the blower is put in operation and open automatically when the blower is stopped.

11. In a blower of the class described, the combination of a casing for conveying the hot gases having an opening connecting it to the atmosphere, anda door for the opening adapted to open automatically when the blower stops running to check the flow of gases through said casing caused by natural draft.

12. In a blower for handling hot gases, a casing, a fan within the casing, means for driving the fan, a hub supporting said means spaced within said casing, said hub having two walls, one spaced inside the other forming an air space to check the transfer of heat of the gases to said driving means.

13. In a blower for handling hot gases, a casing, a fan within the casing, means for driving the fan, a hub supporting said means spaced within said casing, said hub having two walls, one spaced inside the other forming an air space, a bearing housing spaced inside the inner wall of the hub and forming therewith another air space, means for extending this latter air space to substantially inclose the driving means, and means for connecting said air space to the atmosphere.

14. The combination with a smoke jack, of a blower for application to a locomotive smoke stack and adapted to direct the gases therefrom up into the jack, means for supporting the blower within the bottom of the jack pivotally on a horizontal axis, said blower comprising a casing with an open mouth at the bottom slanting and conical to receive the top of a smoke stack, a fan at the top of the casing connected with the intake, a shaft in the casing supporting the fan, a motor on the shaft below the casing and outside the intake, and two spaced casings surrounding the shaft, whereby the fan will draw air through and around the motor.

15. In a blower for the purpose described, the combination with a casing having an intake at the bottom and means for supporting it to have a universal adjustment, of a shaft through the center of the casing slantingly located, bearings for said shaft near the top and bottom, a fan on the top of the shaft at the outlet of the casing, and a motor on the end of the shaft outside the intake so as to be protected from the heated air in the cas- I6. In a blower for the purpose described, the combination with a casing, of a shaft through the casing, a fan on the top of the shaft for drawing gases through the caslng from below, a motor on the shaft located outside the path of the gases through the casing and having a casing around it for protecting it therefrom, the motor casing having air spaces around it extending from near the bottom to the top thereof and open at the top, and passages for conducting air from the outside into the hollow motor casing to cool the same and up along the motor shaft.

17. The combination in a blower casing adapted to be applied to a locomotive smoke stack to direct the gases therefrom up into the jack, of means for supporting the blower so as to be capable of tilting about a horizontal axis, and also of being bodily raised or lowered, and doors for the blower casing adapted to be closed by the draft through the casing.

18. In a blower of the class described, a casing adapted to be bodily applied to a locomotive smoke stack, a draft inducing fan within the casing and a motor for actuating the same exposed to the cooling influence of the atmosphere.

19. In a blower of the class described, a casing adapted to be bodily applied to a locomotive smoke stack, a draft inducing fan within the casing and a shaft for driving the same exposed to the cooling influence of the atmosphere.

20. In a blower of the class described, a casing adapted to be bodily applied to a locomotive smoke stack, a draft inducing fan within the casing, a shaft for driving the fan and bearings for the shaft exposed to the cooling influence of the atmosphere.

21. In a blower of the class described, a casing adapted to be bodily applied to a locomotive smoke stack, a draft inducing fan within the casing and a motor for actuati the same exposed to the cooling influence/ g the atmosphere, augmented by the action of said fan.

22. In a blower of the class described, a '70 the atmosphere, augmented by the action of said fan.

23. In a blower of the class described, a casing adapted to be bodily applied to a locomotive smoke stack, a draft inducing fan within the casing, a shaft for driving the fan and bearings for the shaft exposed to the cooling influenceof the atmosphere, augmented by the action of said fan.

24. In a blower for the purpose described, the combination with a casing, of a shaft through the casing, a fan on the shaft for drawing gases through the casing from below, a motor on the shaft located outside the path of the gases through the casin and having a casing around it for therefrom, and for conducting air from the outside into the hollow motor casing to cool the same and up along the motor shaft.

25. The combination with a smoke ack, of a blower for application to a locomotive smoke stack and adapted to direct the gases therefrom up into the jack, means for supporting the blower within the bottom of the jack pivotally on horizontal and vertical axes, said blower comprising a casing with an open mouth at the bottom slanting and conical to receive the top of a smoke stack, and a motor for driving the blower located below the casing and outside its intake.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

FRANS H. C. COPPUS.

protecting it 

